Born in Indiana, Brown played college football at Ball State University in Muncie, then went on to play for the Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Colts in a 10-year NFL career.
“Timmy Brown was an all-time great Eagle and one of the most dynamic multipurpose players of his era. He overcame many obstacles in his life to enjoy success both as an athlete and as an entertainer,” Eagles chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie said in a statement.
Colts owner Jim Irsay posted a tribute to Brown on Twitter earlier this week.
With the Eagles, Brown played in the 1960 NFL title game against the Packers. In 1966, Brown became the first player to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in the same game, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Later in his career, he had nine teeth knocked out and suffered a concussion when he took a hit to the face by Dallas Cowboys defender Lee Roy Jordan, according to the Inquirer. His final game was Super Bowl III, in which his Colts lost to the New York Jets.
Former NFL broadcaster Dave Sims posted a video with highlights from Brown’s career.
In 2003, when the Eagles opened a new stadium, actor Sylvester Stallone showed up wearing Brown’s No. 22 jersey and said Brown had been his favorite player, the Inquirer reported.
Brown’s acting career began while he was still a football player, appearing on an episode of the TV series “The Wild Wild West” in 1967.
He later won roles in the Robert Altman-directed films “M*A*S*H” (1970) and “Nashville” (1975), as well as several so-called “Blaxploitation” films, including “Sweet Sugar” and “Black Gunn” (both 1972), and “Dynamite Brothers” (1974).
In the film version of “M*A*S*H,” Brown played Corporal Judson. In the TV series he played Capt. Oliver Jones, a character who had been played in the movie by another former NFL player, Fred Williamson.
The Jones character was written out of the show after the first season, but Brown was one of only four actors to appear in both versions of “M*A*S*H,” joining Gary Burghoff (“Radar”), G. Wood (“Gen. Hammond”) and Corey Fischer (“Capt. Bandini”).
Brown also made appearances on TV series such as “Adam-12” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”
Brown is survived by a son, two grandchildren and a sister. Funeral services are being delayed because of the coronavirus outbreak, the Inquirer reported.
